I couldn't get into this book. I just didn't find the motivation to continue reading past the first few pages.

Wow, there is a lot going on here. I think an entire semester’s class could probably be dedicated to analyzing this novel. It’s brilliant, I think. But be warned: it’s dense and demanding.

What is it about? Hmmm. A family in the 1990s. Adam, the teenage son, is a talented member of his high school debate team. His parents are intellectuals: his father a psychologist at a local institute in their home of Topeka, his mother a feminist author.

But all of that is just what’s on the surface, the vehicles to explore much deeper psychological and sociological issues—ones that began decades ago and have cumulated into our current political and social climate of toxic masculinity and right-wing fascism.

At times I was reminded of David Foster Wallace: like maybe Adam could be a cousin of Hal Incandenza or something.

This book is not going to be for everyone and to be honest I’m not even sure it was entirely for me. It’s the kind of book I appreciate more than I actually enjoyed reading it. There’s very little dialogue and huge walls of text, so it’s quite the undertaking. I wish I could discuss it with someone smarter than I am, or that I had the time and energy to process it more completely.

*Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review*